Taking a Walk on the Wild Side with Planar Electrochromatography and Thin‐Layer Electrophoresis: Of Peptides, Proteins, and Proteomics

Abstract

Planar electrochromatography (PEC) and thin‐layer electrophoresis (TLE) are examined for their potential application to peptide and protein analysis, employing one‐dimensional (1D) and two‐dimensional (2D) separations, which could potentially be useful for proteomics applications. The PEC and TLE literature are reviewed because the two methods are fundamentally similar in mechanical operations and performance. The application of TLE to peptide mapping is discussed and approaches to extending the technique to proteins and proteomics are offered. Much of the discussion is prognostic or hopefully predictive, attempting to ascertain how PEC might evolve in the coming years for peptide, protein, and ultimately proteomics applications.

Keywords:

• Proteomics
• Peptides
• Proteins
• Capillary electrochromatography (CEC)
• Thin‐layer chromatography (TLC)
• Thin‐layer electrophoresis (TLE)
• Planar electrochromatography (PEC)

Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Nelu Grinberg, the Guest Editor for this Special Issue of JLC&RT for the original invitation to prepare this overview, and for his insightful and knowledgeable contributions. It has been our honor to have him as a Guest Editor, and without his assistance and kind invitation, this article never would have appeared in print. We also acknowledge the kind discussions with various colleagues, all quite more knowledgeable in areas of PEC and HTLE, especially David Nurok and John Dorsey, as well as Jill Meisenhelder, Lab Manager for Tony Hunter at The Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA. We are also appreciative of the various discussions and literature searches provided by Fred Rabel and Gunter Niessen at EMD Chemicals, Inc., Gibbstown, NJ, a part of Merck KgaA of Darmstadt, Germany. We also wish to thank Michael Schulz and Heinz‐Emil Hauck, Merck KgaA, Darmstadt, Germany for generously providing the figures on TLC of peptides. Finally, this overview would never have occurred without the interest, collaborations, and financial support provided by PerkinElmer (PKI) Corporation's Life Sciences Division, Boston, MA thru the kind assistance provided by Peter Banks and Frank Corden. Erin Rockney was the recipient of a PerkinElmer summer student internship at PKI during part of the academic year, 2004‐05.